Beaumanoir: How the group broadened its scope through acquisitions

Fashion Network

17 hours ago

The Beaumanoir group has pulled off another coup in the market for struggling retailers. The French company, owner of the Cache Cache, Bonobo, and Morgan fashion brands, has just acquired 26 stores from the Jennyfer chain in liquidation, as well as its brand name. The strategy of this retail giant, founded in 1981 and now employing over 15,000 people, is to diversify across different product ranges, sales channels, and customer targets within the clothing sector, to be present in fashionable markets and also limit risks. Focus on the successive acquisitions that have enabled the company to build this sprawling group.
The group founded by Roland and Jocelyne Beaumanoir, whose son Thomas is gradually taking over the reins, now owns nearly twenty brands. The addition of Jennyfer to its portfolio enables it to "position itself in a new segment with a younger clientele," said Jérôme Drianno, the group's managing director.
This means targeting teenage girls, whom the group had previously only marginally reached.
"One of the pillars of the Beaumanoir group's success is its ability to finely segment the market and target a broad clientele through an adapted offer and brands," he added.
However, this is not a global takeover, but a partial acquisition of a quarter of Jennyfer's branches and 350 of its nearly 1,000 jobs. Consequently, 600 employees have been made redundant, and the brand has posted a moving video on social networks to retrace 40 years of existence, and thank its customers and staff. To relaunch the Jennyfer asset—since the name has been retained by the group—it will first focus on the digital channel, favored by young girls, via the Sarenza platform. This multi-brand website was acquired from Monoprix by Beaumanoir in 2022 to develop its e-commerce component.
Prior to this, the family-owned La Halle chain, which was losing ground within Vivarte, was acquired by the Beaumanoir family's holding company in 2020, following a receivership. These were a total of 366 stores to revive. A revival that was not a foregone conclusion, but which has begun to take shape, with a return to profit in 2023. In fact, this out-of-town chain, which is beginning to reopen stores, officially entered the Group's legal fold only at the beginning of 2024.
Then, in 2021, the year in which the group decided to sell its operations in China (550 stores) to refocus on Europe, it acquired another Vivarte Group asset, the women's chain Caroll, which strengthened its slightly more premium fashion division.
In recent years, Beaumanoir has not always won court cases. In 2023, it bid for Kookaï, but was not chosen, and in 2024, it focused on the takeover of eleven outlets of the Des Marques et Vous chain in liquidation, and suffered the same fate.
Last year, however, the group signed a major contract in the thriving sports/lifestyle sector, namely the operation of all Boardriders brands in Western Europe (Quiksilver, Roxy, Billabong, DC Shoes, Element, and RVCA). This will appeal to young, active, and more international consumers.
In its brand portfolio, the historic Cache Cache (mid-range women's ready-to-wear launched in 1985) and Bonobo (mixed fashion and denim established in 2006) are the only brands developed in-house. Bréal was acquired in 2003, followed by Morgan in 2009. Two other brands that have since been discontinued, Scottage and La City, were also acquired, in 2005 and 2011, respectively.
In total, 5,000 jobs are said to have been saved by the Saint Malo -based group over the years. These multiple takeovers have also enabled it to post revenues of 3 billion euros by 2024, almost double the figure from four years ago.
Since 2002, the company has also had a powerful integrated logistics subsidiary, C-Log, which manages warehousing and merchandise delivery. It now has a total of 2,700 points of sale and continues to open new units. In particular, through its multi-brand Vib's format, launched in 2016 and active on the outskirts (with Cache Cache, Bonobo, and Bréal), which is planning around 15 openings this year, or the Boardriders concept, which is already expanding in the regions, mainly through affiliation.
At a time when other fashion players are struggling in France, such as Naf Naf and André, does the group still have any plans for external growth? There are still sectors, such as footwear and children's products, where it has little presence.